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Please can someone advise how we go about making a complaint to the Colegio de Abogados de Murcia?

Will they respond if the complaint is in English?

Is there a particular format that we should use?

Very grateful for any advice as this is completely new ground for us and we never expected to find ourselves in this position!

Tilly

This is a big problem for people in the uk. Although ‘It is free to complain’ to the colegio you will need to get your complaint dealt with in Spanish, in writing and with written evidence, to carry any weight.
I can only comment from my own (ongoing) experience…I have used a UK Spanish speaking solicitor who has so far succeeded in getting the Malaga Colegio to recognise a complaint which has triggered a disciplinary procedure against a law firm. This does not guarantee a result because the Colegio needs to allow the law firm to respond with their version of events. All this will take time and fees in the uk.
Depending on the nature of the complaint, it may be possible to go through the European consumer complaints body.
It does seem that as time goes by there are more routes available for affected buyers to raise the awareness of authorities to the poor service being offered by some so called ‘professionals’ to consumers, not least the existence of web sites like this one.
If only this site had been around in 2001!

Please can someone advise how we go about making a complaint to the Colegio de Abogados de Murcia?

Will they respond if the complaint is in English?

Is there a particular format that we should use?

Very grateful for any advice as this is completely new ground for us and we never expected to find ourselves in this position!

Tilly

This is a big problem for people in the uk. Although ‘It is free to complain’ to the colegio you will need to get your complaint dealt with in Spanish, in writing and with written evidence, to carry any weight.
I can only comment from my own (ongoing) experience…I have used a UK Spanish speaking solicitor who has so far succeeded in getting the Malaga Colegio to recognise a complaint which has triggered a disciplinary procedure against a law firm. This does not guarantee a result because the Colegio needs to allow the law firm to respond with their version of events. All this will take time and fees in the uk.
Depending on the nature of the complaint, it may be possible to go through the European consumer complaints body.
It does seem that as time goes by there are more routes available for affected buyers to raise the awareness of authorities to the poor service being offered by some so called ‘professionals’ to consumers, not least the existence of web sites like this one.
If only this site had been around in 2001!

Sorry I have got to tell you that complaints aganst lawyers are not recognised by the EEC. I know this because I wrote to them about a lawyer and have just recieved a letter from them telling me that my only recourse is to make a complaint against his Colegio.

[/quote]Sorry I have got to tell you that complaints aganst lawyers are not recognised by the EEC. I know this because I wrote to them about a lawyer and have just recieved a letter from them telling me that my only recourse is to make a complaint against his Colegio.[/quote]

Yes, we have. But not to launch a complaint against a lawyer. It was against a developer. I would say that your Spanish version of Consumers Association (OMIC) is a much better approach as I found the EU consumers centre a little wishy-washy if you know what I mean! But then again I don’t know how many people tend to know about it and use it. That’s what gives a body like that its negotiating power! Us.

I would say that your best bet is to seek advice from the local OMIC and prepare a letter in Spanish for the Colegio de los Abogados. I know of someone that can translate the letter for a reasonable fee. Also, documentary evidence to support your claims as always would give weight and the colegio would have to investigate the matter. Disciplinary action may come further down the line and probably it would if the evidence you provide is solid!

Thank you for all the advice. I should have known it wasn’t going to be easy!

I don’t want to use a lawyer for this – I’m not expecting any recompense but I would like to draw attention to their methods and perhaps prevent someone else being caught in the same way.

The British Consuls office have said that the Colegio is in Castellano but that there may be an ombudsman (defensor del pueblo) in Murcia that accepts complaints in the main European languages. I haven’t been able to track them down yet but will keep looking.

There’s nationwide ombudsman and IIRC he receives more than 14.000 complaints a year and I’m not sure you may address him in English. he’s really there for Fundamental Rights protection (and by this I mean those set in our spanish constitution arts. 14-28 and a few more).

Problems with spanish Layers must be handled at their Colegio de Abogados who are the only one’s who are empowered to discipline the Lawyer and this complaint must be done in Spanish as it’s only blatant.

Can you possibly imagine me whining on some lawyer from London in a Spanish letter addressed to London’s Bar Council ?

Draken kindly gave me the website of the College of abagados in Alicante last Autumn but when I phone I get a recorded message in Spanish, when I e-mail in English I don’t get an answer. So I struggled on with my Mum’s solicitor for a while things got worse and worse – I approached several solicitors to make a complaint for me- both said the college would deal with me in English- so I am confused about the English- Spanish question.

It’s true Draken that help in Spanish is not available from the English and Welsh Law society, and that law society is not without problems in their complaint handling .But help is available on their website in most languages commonly used by people needing solicitors in the UK, Namely, Arabic,Chinese,Greek, Gujerati,hindu, Somali, Turkish, Urdu, Vietnamese and Welsh. I believe some of these populations represent a smaller proportion of the relevant population then the English in Spain.

My only connection to Spain is that my mum has property there and she is too ill to handle it- .
So it seems from what you are saying is that I do need to write out a complaint in English and have it translated, but do I need a legal translator? Also would be very grateful for any advice available at all on the format of a complaint to the law society in Spain?

Sorry I didn’t reply sooner – I was hoping that one of the lawyers would reply to you with some more information.

If your area is Alicante then it might be worth you contacting the British Consulate who are based there and asking their opinion. The person I contacted there was:Russell.Thomson2@fco.gov.uk
and he said:
‘Sorry, you’re going to have to file your complaint with the Colegio in castellano. Murcia region probably have an ombudsman (defensor del pueblo) who, if he/she follows the practice of the one here, will accept correspondence in the main European languages. Unfortunately, my computer cannot connect with their website at the moment – http://www.carm.es/ – so I can’t give you contact details.’

I haven’t taken this any further at present as my situation keeps changing every day and I’m struggling to keep up. Basically the lawyer who was supposed to be dealing with my case now says he was not, but he has used my purchase contract in another case (not mine).

In fact Mr Thomson at the British Consulate was very helpful, and replied to my e-mail immediately He advised either getting another lawyer to make the complaint for me. But I have been trying this and it seems that lawyers are reluctant to make complaints about each other.

or sending an email to the college (translated into catalan) asking for details of the complaint procedure. (which sounds painfully difficult, but if it’s the only way)

but this is he part that heartened me-
‘ if the lawyer you are complaining about is on that list, then please let me know, with details of your complaint, and I will speak to him/her. We are not able to recommend lawyers, but we do try to make sure that lawyers on our list act professionally: if they don’t, they don’t stay on the list. ‘

(the list of lawyers given by the consulate)

So I am optimistic that at least I can influence the British Consulate list!

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